I think about insurance when I see a wet floor in a grocery store or a rickety vehicle sputtering down the road. It crosses my mind when I walk through the power tools section at Home Depot or notice a dead tree leaning over a property line.
I wasn’t always this way. I was once normal. I only thought about insurance when I had to sign up for it or painfully pay my bi-annual premiums (which seemed like a tax for something I would never use). Then Ibecame an attorney and started handling injury cases. Now insurance is a pervasive theme.
This spring I worked on two cases that both involved an uninsured motorist, but in drastically – and unfortunately – different ways.
In the first case, my client was walking in the parking lot of Wal-Mart in Marina when she was hit by an SUV She was seriously injured. The driver who struck my client fled the scene and was later charged with felony hit and run. Turns out the driver was uninsured.
In the second case, my client was on her way home from work when a car turned directly in front of her. She smashed into the car at 55 miles per hour. Both cars were totaled, and fire rescue had to cut my client out of her vehicle. She broke her back and was hospitalized. She hasn’t worked since the accident and has a long road of rehabilitation in front of her. The other driver was also uninsured.
Both cases involved terrible injuries. Both were caused by the fault of an uninsured driver. Both uninsured drivers are flat broke. The big difference, though, is that in the first case, my client had uninsured motorist coverage, and in the second case, my client didn’t.
Like the name suggests, uninsured motorist coverage applies when you are injured by someone who is driving without insurance. It is not required by California law, but is an optional coverage that you can sign up for when you buy insurance. It essentially protects you against all the uninsured drivers of the world.
Under the terms of my client’s uninsured motorist policy, she was covered even though she was not in her vehicle at the time of the accident. She will be compensated for her medical expenses, lost income and injury.
My other client is left footing the bill. It’s a bill she cannot pay.
I rethought my insurance coverage after handling these two cases and decided to increase my own uninsured motorist coverage. I can assure you I am not a talking lizard, promotional duck or cartoon general. Nevertheless, I would encourage you to throw a couple extra bucks toward uninsured motorist coverage sooner than later. It is always better to have something you don’t need, than to need something and not have it.
I wasn’t always this way. I was once normal. I only thought about insurance when I had to sign up for it or painfully pay my bi-annual premiums (which seemed like a tax for something I would never use). Then Ibecame an attorney and started handling injury cases. Now insurance is a pervasive theme.
This spring I worked on two cases that both involved an uninsured motorist, but in drastically – and unfortunately – different ways.
In the first case, my client was walking in the parking lot of Wal-Mart in Marina when she was hit by an SUV She was seriously injured. The driver who struck my client fled the scene and was later charged with felony hit and run. Turns out the driver was uninsured.
In the second case, my client was on her way home from work when a car turned directly in front of her. She smashed into the car at 55 miles per hour. Both cars were totaled, and fire rescue had to cut my client out of her vehicle. She broke her back and was hospitalized. She hasn’t worked since the accident and has a long road of rehabilitation in front of her. The other driver was also uninsured.
Both cases involved terrible injuries. Both were caused by the fault of an uninsured driver. Both uninsured drivers are flat broke. The big difference, though, is that in the first case, my client had uninsured motorist coverage, and in the second case, my client didn’t.
Like the name suggests, uninsured motorist coverage applies when you are injured by someone who is driving without insurance. It is not required by California law, but is an optional coverage that you can sign up for when you buy insurance. It essentially protects you against all the uninsured drivers of the world.
Under the terms of my client’s uninsured motorist policy, she was covered even though she was not in her vehicle at the time of the accident. She will be compensated for her medical expenses, lost income and injury.
My other client is left footing the bill. It’s a bill she cannot pay.
I rethought my insurance coverage after handling these two cases and decided to increase my own uninsured motorist coverage. I can assure you I am not a talking lizard, promotional duck or cartoon general. Nevertheless, I would encourage you to throw a couple extra bucks toward uninsured motorist coverage sooner than later. It is always better to have something you don’t need, than to need something and not have it.
No comments:
Post a Comment